Mac Issue: 3 TB Seagate Barracuda Drive lost data

How to use TestDisk to recover lost partition
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Artlaw1
Posts: 5
Joined: 10 Jun 2017, 22:27

Mac Issue: 3 TB Seagate Barracuda Drive lost data

#1 Post by Artlaw1 »

Hi:

I've been using a 3TB Seagate Desktop external drive for storage. Recently, I got on my iMac and saw a "disk not ejected properly" message, which happens from time to time with another external driver so I didn't think too much of it, until I found the computer would not recognize the drive. I tried to remount the drive using the Mac's disk utilities app, to no avail. Running First Aid did not help, although it did recognize the drive was attached.

Before the crash, I had about 2.2 TBs of data on the drive, mostly photographs, audio, and video files. After the crash, the drive is only recognizing an 800+GB partition. I've run multiple tests using different software, including TestDisk, but have been unable to find the original partition. Disk Drill Basic says there are 4 bad blocks. Not sure what to do next. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Gene

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cgrenier
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Re: Mac Issue: 3 TB Seagate Barracuda Drive lost data

#2 Post by cgrenier »

If there are bad blocks, you should get another disk to store your data. Do not reuse this disk to store data.
You can use ddrescue to clone the disk to a 3TB or bigger disk and use any data recovery utility (testdisk/photorec/...) on the clone to recover your data.
Read https://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.pdf to learn about ddrescue usage.

Artlaw1
Posts: 5
Joined: 10 Jun 2017, 22:27

Re: Mac Issue: 3 TB Seagate Barracuda Drive lost data

#3 Post by Artlaw1 »

Thank you so much! I will let you know how it works out! I appreciate your work very much!

Artlaw1
Posts: 5
Joined: 10 Jun 2017, 22:27

Re: Mac Issue: 3 TB Seagate Barracuda Drive lost data

#4 Post by Artlaw1 »

I wanted to drop a quick followup line. I followed your suggestion and copied the drive using Photorec. Although I did lose the directory structure and file names, it appears as though I have successfully recovered all of my precious digital photographs. Once again my sincerest thanks for your assistance!

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